Orpheus Descending
by Sh1 n0 m1k0
Summary: She swallowed, “I’m not one for sweeping.” “So I noticed,” Haku replied dryly, “Ruri got that job. And don’t expect me to carry you anywhere. You gained too much weight for that.”


A/N: I've had this idea in the back of my mind for the longest time, as well as in the back of my spiral. I just finally got to typing it up, and believe me, major editing was done. This was inspired by the Greek myth of Orpheus, so bear with me, kay?   
  
Disclaimer: Yeah.   
  
~*~*~   
  
_'Don't look back…'_   
  
Chihiro woke in a cold sweat. It was that dream again.   
  
"And so, Orpheus charmed his way into Hades to bring his beloved back to the human realm…" the teacher droned on. Chihiro sighed and settled her head back on her arm. No one warned her that the senior year of high school was so boring. She studied the purple string that was tied around her wrist as she half-heartedly listened to the lecture.   
  
"… Orpheus convinced the Lord of the Underworld, Hades, himself, to allow his wife's return to the realm of the living, but with a price. She would follow Orpheus to the surface, and he could not look back at he. If he did cast so much as a glance back, he would lose her forever…"   
  
Chihiro perked up at that. That's what she kept hearing in her dream.   
  
_'Will we meet again?'   
  
'I'm sure.'   
  
'Promise?'   
  
'Promise. Now go, and don't look back.'_   
  
The girl sighed and put her head back down on her arms, closing her eyes for the second time. That's what someone told her a long, long time ago. Not to look back. And she hadn't.   
  
"… Unfortunately, Orpheus was suspicious of the deal, and as he approached the exit to the Underworld, he glanced behind him to see if it really was his wife's footsteps he heard, only to see her fade away with a whispered goodbye…"   
  
_'Don't look back…'_   
  
Chihiro dozed off again.   
  
_A young girl ran across a field of lush green grass. She paused as her parents waved to her from the entrance of a large building. The girl looked as if she was making a decision, and began to turn to look behind her. Catching herself in the act, she shook her head and ran to her waiting parents._   
  
"Chihiro!"   
  
Chihiro shot into wakefulness, only to be greeted by the teacher looming over her. The man glared.   
  
"What was the last thing I just said?"   
  
The student's eyes widened as she panicked, "Um…" The image of dark gray eyes flashed in her mind, "Don't look back until you're past the tunnel?"   
  
"Incorrect. Detention. For sleeping in my class."   
  
_'Just because you can't remember, doesn't mean it didn't happened. It just means you can't recall.'_   
  
"Yes, sir."   
  
"Good," The teacher stalked back to the blackboard and started to scribble down barely legible notes as the rest of the class fumbled to find paper and pens. Chihiro yawned and picked up a previously discarded pencil that was lying forgotten on her desk. Doodling on her spiral idly, the girl paid half-attention to what she was supposed to be copying down as the students around her soaked up the information like it was oxygen. A folded piece of paper bounced off the back of her head and landed next to her foot.   
  
Making sure that the teacher wasn't watching, she scooped the origami cat off the floor and onto her desk.   
  
**'Hey! You okay? ~ Ruri ~ '**   
  
Chihiro smiled and wrote a response before folding it into a water lily and nonchalantly tossing it behind her. She tapped her pencil against her desk a few times and glanced down at her paper. She did a double take.   
  
Her pencil seemed to have run away with her. Along the margins were numerous sketches of a ten-year-old boy, a six-armed man, and a barefoot woman, complete with fancy looking labels. At the corner of the sheet, in a spot of importance was a close up of the boy's face, smiling and laughing at the antics of the other two. The paper came flying back from behind Chihiro, grazing her ear and landing on her desk. She stared at the paper dragon that obscured the boy from view.   
  
"Ruri and Chihiro! What did I say about passing notes in class at the beginning of the course?" The teacher was once again glowering over Chihiro's desk as he swiped the note and unfolded it.   
  
"Did you see the new kid? He's a Hottie with a capital 'H'! Can't remember his name though. I think he was named after a god or something," The teacher read the note aloud and glared at the offending redhead who was blushing profusely at the back of the room.   
  
_'Sounds like a god's name…'_   
  
"It seems you'll be joining Chihiro in Detention today, doesn't it." Ruri nodded sheepishly, "Yes, sir."   
  
The teacher grunted and continued with the lesson, "Now, what do you think would have happened if Orpheus had not been mistrusting of Hades and hadn't glanced back? Anyone?"   
  
Someone raised his hand to answer, "He would have gotten away with it, and lived a happy second life with his beloved." The voice sounded familiar…   
  
"Maybe. Everyone is entitled to his or her opinion. Anyone else? …"   
  
The discussion continued and Chihiro directed her attention out the window. 'The question is more like, what would have happened if I did look back.' She sighed, eyelids drooping perilously. And the teacher's monotonous droning faded to the background.   
  
Movement caught her focus, and her eyes flew open as a very familiar face peeked into the doorway of the classroom. Chihiro sat up straight and cocked her head to the side.   
  
"No-face? What are you doing here?" She snuck a peek at the preoccupied teacher and snuck out, looking for her friend. She caught a glimpse of his shadowy body, turning a corner, and a blast of sunlight as he apparently left the building. She chased after him.   
  
_'Don't look back…'_   
  
Chihiro ran away from the building, jogging along the road, following the few glimpses of her dark friend into an overgrown area of land. She passed a grinning statue, only giving it momentary attention before following the illusive creature. She leapt over some brush, and skidded to a halt in front of a vine-encrusted tunnel.   
  
_'Don't look back…'_   
  
She couldn't go back. Haku told her not to. But No-Face led her here. What if something happened and they needed her… Setting her jaw into a determined line, she began to traverse into the darkness.   
  
_'Don't look back…'_   
  
"I'm not looking back, I'm looking around," she muttered as she reached the heart of the building. Nothing had changed. Same benches, same water fountain, same stained glass window… She continued onward, exiting the building and beginning her trek across a lush grassy field.   
  
_'Don't look back…'_   
  
"Would you knock it off already?" She yelled to the sky as she reached the streets filled with restaurants, "I'm NOT looking back!" Chihiro began to jog, trying to outrun the voice that haunted her memories, both past and present. Before she knew it, she had reached the bathhouse. The infamous, currently silent bathhouse of the Gods. The quiet unnerved her. There was no smoke, or train, nothing. She slowly approached the unchanged building, passing through the secret opening in the fence, and balancing her way down the stairway, careful of the missing step. She reached the bottom and stared at the boiler room door.   
  
_'Don't look back…'_   
  
"Bite me," She growled between her teeth and pushed the heavy door open, revealing the deadened machinery behind it. Chihiro stepped into the cold room and noted the soot coating the floor, "Kamaji? You here?"   
  
_'Don't look back…'_   
  
Chihiro slid away the paneling separating the rest of the bathhouse from the boiler room and crawled through, "Lin? Anyone? Hello!" The halls were silent, and she began to jog through the rooms until she reached and elevator, "It's me! Sen!"   
  
_'Don't look back…'_   
  
She slid into the small closet sized space and flipped the switch. Nothing happened. She sighed.   
  
"Just peachy. Now where were the stairs again?..."   
  
_'Don't look back...'_   
  
"Hello! Yubaba!?" Chihiro continued her long trek upwards, and reached her destination, panting lightly. The massive door with a Yubaba shaped knocker faced her, and she tapped the ring against the door lightly, waited, then let herself in. She half-expected some unknown force to grab the front of her school uniform and drag her through the hallways inside, but the room was as empty as the rest of the building. She cursed to herself.   
  
"Yubaba? Baby? Anyone?"   
  
**~Chihiro...~**   
  
_'Don't look back...'_   
  
"It's me! I'm back!"   
  
**~Chihiro!~**   
  
_'Don't look back...'_   
  
"SEN!!"   
  
"CHIHIRO!" The teacher towered over her for the third time that class period, "I already thought we settled this, but apparently not!" She stared at him, still unfocused on where she was.   
  
She finally shook her head and looked down guiltily, "Sorry, sir." The rest of the class giggled at her humiliation. Then the bell rang and all her treacherous peers disappeared from the room in less than a minute. Ruri quietly gathered her things and dragged her backpack over to the desk besides Chihiro's. The teacher glared at the duo.   
  
"I'm sure I don't have to lecture you two on what you did, you know very well how you managed to gain a detention in this class. Now I expect you to have this room clean by the time that I get back."   
  
"Yes, sir," the girls replied simultaneously. The teacher nodded, content and turned to march out the door. Chihiro made a face at his back as Ruri flipped him the bird.   
  
"Jerk," Ruri mumbled to herself.   
  
"Shut up, Ruri."   
  
"Well he is!"   
  
"I know. But just shut up."   
  
Ruri sighed, "Fine. But did you see the new guy?"   
  
"No I did NOT see the new guy," Chihiro opened the closet in the corner of the room and pulled out a plastic bucket with two yellow sponges in it, "And I have a feeling that you're going to tell me all about him, whether I care or not."   
  
"Come on, Chihiro! Not scoping out the new meat is unhealthy at your age."   
  
"I'm the same age as you Ruri."   
  
"Shut up. Anyway this guy is dee-lish! And you should see his eyes…" Ruri leaned against a desk and Chihiro opened the door. "Where are you going?"   
  
She motioned to the bucket, "Where do you think?"   
  
"Oh. Right. I'll start sweeping then."   
  
"Sounds good."   
  
"Hey! If you see Mr. Handsome, give him my number okay?"   
  
"Get real, Ruri." Chihiro headed toward the nearby maintenance closet situated in the hallway, ignoring the gassy smell inside. She plopped the bucket into the sink and turned the water on. She sighed. 'This sucks.'   
  
Hauling the now full bucket down the hallway, Chihiro managed to slosh water into her shoes as she set the bucket down to relieve her tiring arms. As she bent to fix her socks, she heard Ruri's voice and the voice of an unidentified male float to her ears.   
  
"So. Where are you from?" Chihiro grimaced. Ruri could flirt a mile a minute, no problem.   
  
"Around."   
  
"Mysterious, aren't we?" Ruri giggled. Chihiro sighed and picked up her burden again, toting it back to the classroom.   
  
"Are you going to help me or not?" Chihiro grunted as she lugged the bucket through the door and onto a nearby desk before grabbing the sponge and walking to the blackboard.   
  
"Hey!" Ruri replied, indignantly, "I am helping!"   
  
"Whatever," Chihiro replied, swiping along the board allowing the sponge to leave a wet trail in its wake, "Finish what you start."   
  
"Meanie. Anyway, don't mind her. She's always like that."   
  
"I don't mind." The voice seemed achingly familiar.   
  
"Do you mind not talking about me like I'm not here?"   
  
Ruri blew a raspberry and turned back to her self-appointed charge, "How do you like school so far. Kind of an awkward time to start, isn't it?"   
  
"It's fine."   
  
Chihiro could sense Ruri's shrug. "Yeah. I guess it's okay once you get used to it. What possessed you to come to this place, huh? Girlfriend troubles?"   
  
"I actually came here because I was looking for someone."   
  
"Really? Do I know him?"   
  
"Her."   
  
The sponge squished against the hard chalkboard and the water slid down the surface, leaving a chalky trail.   
  
"What's her name?" Chihiro managed to squeak out awkwardly before she dunked the sponge back into the water. She shakily began to wring it out.   
  
"Sen."   
  
Chihiro jumped, knocking over the pail, spilling water all over the floor. Ruri jumped at the sound of the bucket hitting the floor and spun to see the commotion. Chihiro was staring blankly at the puddle of chalk water that was pooling at her feet, making her shoes soggier than they were before.   
  
"Holy crap! What just happened? I'll go get a mop!" Ruri ran out the door as Chihiro stood there dumbly, trying to analyze what just happened. Footsteps approached behind her and a gentle hand rested on her shoulder. She began to hyperventilate slightly, fighting for calm.   
  
"Chihiro?"   
  
"Haku?"   
  
The hand tried to pull her around to face its owner, but Chihiro shrugged out of its hold, "It's been seven years, Haku."   
  
"I know. I'm sorry. Yubaba…"   
  
"I don't care. How is everyone?" She interrupted.   
  
"They're all doing well. They miss you."   
  
"I miss them too." She whispered.   
  
"Chi-"   
  
"I still have the hair tie that Zeniba gave me," She looked to her wrist, where the purple creation was tied, "It broke last year."   
  
"I'm sure they'll be happy that you still have it."   
  
"Maybe."   
  
"Chihiro…" Haku paused, waiting for the interruption. When none came, he maneuvered to sit on the desk next to her so he could see her profile. Chihiro angled her face away from him as to not see him. "Why won't you look at me?"   
  
She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, "What if I told you I met someone?"   
  
"I'd tell you that you were a horrible liar."   
  
"I met someone."   
  
"You're a horrible liar."   
  
Chihiro smiled wryly, "Let me finish. I met someone, and he changed my life forever. I loved him and from what I could tell, he loved me, but under the circumstances, we couldn't confess our feelings. Only those who knew what to look for knew of our problem. We were young, foolish, and inexperienced."   
  
"Speak for yourself."   
  
"Fine. At least I was. I had to leave, and we promised each other that we'd meet again and I never heard from him since. But somehow, I still go on loving him."   
  
Haku poked her in the side, and she giggled in reaction, "So I still have a chance?"   
  
"Do you ever stop talking?"   
  
"No. But I'll try."   
  
"Good. Over time, I managed to convince myself that it was a dream. A vivid, beautiful, wonderful, impossible dream, but a dream nonetheless. I moved on. Then all of a sudden, the guy shows up again and expects me to leap into his arms so he can carry me off into the sunset where we can settle down at a house with a white picket fence, get married, buy a dog, and have 2.5 children."   
  
Haku smiled, "I never said that."   
  
"You implied it."   
  
"How?"   
  
"You came back and scared the living daylights out of me."   
  
"Is that why you won't look at me?"   
  
"No."   
  
"Then tell me why." Haku reached out to her, but she balked away.   
  
"It's all your fault, anyway."   
  
"How?"   
  
"You told me not to look back, remember Einstein?"   
  
"But it's safe now. We're through the tunnel."   
  
"How do you know that? For all you know, we're just managing to cross the River Styx."   
  
Haku sighed, "We're not. I won't disappear. Promise."   
  
"It's been seven years, Haku."   
  
"I'm painfully aware of that." He studied her impassive manner for a minute then sighed again, "I missed you. It took me two years to finally convince Yubaba to cancel my apprenticeship, and that was only after Zeniba sent No-Face back to the bathhouse, Lin and Kamaji led a strike, and Baby threatened not to like her anymore. The next five years was spent doing dirty work in the bathhouse to earn my ticket out of the Spirit Realm so I could meet up with you again. Ever wonder what a REAL Stink God smells like?"   
  
Chihiro clenched her fists and fought the sympathy she had for the boy next to her. Haku continued his story.   
  
"Then Baby ran away on the week that I was supposed to leave on. Yubaba snapped. She refused to let me go. I demanded, I bargained, I pleaded, and I begged. It didn't matter to her. She was crazed. Nothing would change her mind, and nothing would calm her. It drained both Zeniba's and my power to the brink of death just to seal her away. Now Zeniba's taking care of the bathhouse, with No-Face as her personal secretary. And did you know what I was thinking those seven years?"   
  
Chihiro could feel Haku trembling behind her and bit her lip, "No." She whispered.   
  
"I was thinking of you and how in the seven hells I was going to keep my promise to you. I was thinking of how I missed your bright smile and bull-headed personality. I was thinking that if I ever survived what torture Yubaba would assign me to, that I'd find you, sweep you off your feet, settle down, possibly get married and have 2.5 children! I love you, dammit!"   
  
She swallowed, "I'm not one for sweeping."   
  
"So I noticed," Haku replied dryly, "Ruri got that job. White picket fences never appealed to me, and I don't like dogs. And don't expect me to carry you anywhere. You gained too much weight for that."   
  
Chihiro turned to punch him in the jaw. At least, that's what she wanted to do if he hadn't caught her fist in mid-swing. She stared into his laughing gray eyes.   
  
"Told you I wouldn't disappear."   
  
Chihiro fought the urge to slap him, "I hate you."   
  
"And I hate you." Haku smiled at her and released her hand. "Real enough for you?"   
  
She scowled at him, "Help me clean this up."   
  
"Okay."   
  
"Awwww! Where's the kiss?" Ruri stood in the doorway, grinning like the Cheshire cat. The couple blushed instantaneously. "Don't tell me that you've both been in love since forever and you haven't even kissed!"   
  
Chihiro glared at Ruri. "Shut UP!"   
  
"Young love…" Ruri struck a melodramatic pose, completely ignoring Chihiro threats, "It's like something out of an anime!" She stuck her hands on her hips and glared pointedly at the two, "So kiss her already!"   
  
"That's IT!" Chihiro chased after the laughing redhead, "You're DEAD!" The two girls shot out of the room, one almost doubling over in laughter and the other shouting threats of what she was going to do to her prey once she caught her. Haku grinned and walked carefully around the puddle that had now spread to cover most of the floor. He sat at Chihiro's desk and paged through her spiral, smiling lightly at all her doodles that were scattered across the page.   
  
They had made it out together.   
  
~*~*~   
  
Dedicated to Mei-cherry-chan. *waves* 


End file.
